


Here Be Monsters

by lalablue0



Series: Noraverse [5]
Category: Prospect (2018)
Genre: Cee (Prospect) - Freeform, Ezra (Prospect) - Freeform, Ezra/Nora - Freeform, F/M, Gun Violence, Major Character Injury, Minor Violence, Nora (OFC) - Freeform, Original Female Character - Freeform, Original Male Character - Freeform, Prospect (2018) - Freeform, Prospect (film), The Green - Freeform, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, aurelac, noraverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24186799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalablue0/pseuds/lalablue0
Summary: It should be their happiest day. Cee is finally adopted by Ezra and Nora. But on their way to celebrate Ezra has a run in with someone from his past.
Relationships: Ezra/Nora
Series: Noraverse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750858
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Here Be Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Review the tags for what you can expect in this chapter. This is your warning. 
> 
> For the character of Dig - I imagined Benecio Del Toro. If that helps you as the reader. Abazu - in my head is Jesse L. Martin. 
> 
> ** Make sure you click next work for the next chapter in the continuing saga of Ezra, Nora and Cee. **

**Here Be Monsters**

There is a long road that leads home

Dark and twisted is where I stay.

I've been gone for far too long,

but now I am on my way.

  
  


–

  
  
  
  


“I don't understand why I even needed to be there. He didn't even look at me or ask me any questions,” Cee complained as the newly declared family made their way through Puggart Bench's capitol city.

  
  


Nora and Ezra held hands as they walked down the sidewalk toward the bazaar. Nora had not stopped smiling since they left the Hall of Justice. Ezra's mind was full thoughts of the future and he remained solemn. They weaved through the throngs of people in the entrance to the bazaar.

  
  


“Well you did have to sign the paperwork,” Ezra reminded Cee.

  
  


Cee had looked forward to this day ever since they told her about filing to be her legal guardians. Too many times had her father made her feel unwanted, unwelcome and unloved. Ezra recognized that Cee was thriving now. She was so lost when they met. On her way to being just like him. Nora was their anchor. She was the tie that binds them. _A proper family. Now I know I have perished._ He sometimes pinches himself because he could not seem to convince himself that he hadn't, in fact, died.

  
  


Cee had made everyone dress up for the occasion. Nora wore a yellow dress that made her look like sunshine. Cee found a dress that she was able to use for her school dance and for this most auspicious of occasions. She went with Ezra to the bazaar to get something she considered suitable. He had drawn the line at a suit and tie; firmly citing his nuptials as the one and only time he would wear one. He promised Cee that her adoption was of equal importance, but by far a more casual affair. Still didn't stop Cee from picking out a button down shirt for him to wear. She even restored an old camera that she found at the bazaar so they could take a photograph to commemorate becoming an official family.

  
  


Ezra paused Nora and leaned into her personal space, “Hey, I'm going to grab that thing.”

  
  


“Now?” Nora questioned.

  
  


“We're here, I may as well,” Ezra shrugged. He kissed her hand and pulled away.

  
  


“Wait, where are you going? We're going to have lunch, remember?” Cee called after him.

  
  


Ezra turned around but continued walking backward toward the crowd, “I'll be right back. I just have to pick something up first,” he finished just as the multitudes of people swallowed him.

  
  


–

  
  
  
  


Fight or flight are considered the two most common responses to fear. There is however a more common response called freeze. The stress reaction is so intense that the afflicted freeze in fear. Ezra froze as soon as he heard the booming voice call his name in the bazaar. The voice sent a shiver down his spine and he felt suddenly like that little eight year old boy again. He couldn't speak. He couldn't yell. He couldn't move. He was frozen in place as the other man came walking toward him with a pistol pointed in his direction. He thought maybe he was a spectre. There was no ozone smell. No scent of death. No liquor, no smoke, nothing sweet or decaying.

  
  


Ezra was so focused on him that he failed to notice the man who came up behind him and knocked him out.

  
  
  
  


–

  
  
  
  


This was not happening. This is the stuff of nightmares. He felt the panic building in the pit of his stomach. He had no idea where he was. He didn't even know how long he had been in this situation. Should he call it a situation? Was it a dilemma? A conundrum? A predicament? All he knew was he had to get free. He had to get back to his girls.

  
  


“Fuck,” Ezra mumbled. His girls. If they touched his girls...

  
  


He struggled against his restraint. He tried everything he could to loosen his bond. Wriggling, writhing, stretching, and pulling, he could feel the hot tears running down his face, blurring his vision. He could feel the material stretching but it wouldn't give. The leather dug deep into his wrist. He felt a slick of blood run into his palm.

  
  


“When a little birdie told me that a one armed man knew the location of the Queen's Lair, imagine my surprise when I come to find out the one armed man was my very own. Little. Brother.”

  
  


The emphasis on the word brother just dripped of disdain. The tension in the room was almost palpable. He paused his attempt to release himself and felt as though time had stopped while he searched for breath to refill his lungs.

  
  


“Dig?” Ezra felt his lip quiver at the tail end of the word.

  
  


The dark haired, dark eyed man stepped into Ezra's field of vision. He flinched and flushed a little under the sudden scrutiny he felt. He so needed to get out of whatever situation he found myself in. Last time he was with Dig, his brother pushed him out of an airlock. Ezra looked at his surroundings and recognized his Testin Screamer, though messier than he had left it.

  
  


“Obviously tales of your demise have been premature,” Dig laughed, “What is this fresh hell though?” he questioned as he tugged on Ezra's stump.

  
  


“What's going on Dig?” Ezra asked as he began to try and free his hand again.

  
  


Dig grabbed a handful of hair and pulled, forcing Ezra to meet his eyes. “You're going to show us to the Queen's Lair.”

  
  


Ezra's brows furrowed and he licked his lips. The overwhelming memory abruptly strikes him and it hits him like a ton of bricks. He pulled at his bond harder, “No. No. I am not going back there. Let me go. Let me go. I can't go back there.”

  
  


“He's afraid of the Green,” another voice ridiculed from behind him. Ezra didn't have to turn around to know that was another former partner, Abazu.

  
  


“Is that how you lost your arm, Ez? On the Green?” Dig mocked. He released Ezra's hair and smacked him upside the head for good measure. Ezra recalled this particular bully tactic began when he was five years old. Their mother would always punish him if she caught him.

  
  


“The Green get to keep your arm, Ez? Something bite ya? Or did you attempt a dry breach? Wonder what body part it will take from you this time 'round,” Dig smacked Ezra upside the head again and cackled at the effort.

  
  


Ezra's lip snarled, “I should have killed you when I had the chance. I will not be so hesitant if given the opportunity should arise again.”

  
  


Bakhroma Green was a dangerous place even if you had all the right equipment. He highly doubted Dig had the right equipment. This was his worst fear come true. He was going to die on The Green.

–

  
  


They tried to spot him in the crowd but every face that passed was not his.

  
  


“Where is he?” Cee questioned worryingly.

  
  


“I don't know,” Nora answered honestly.

  
  


“He knows it's this place right?”

  
  


Nora stood on the tips of her toes looking out into the crowd. The bazaar was full thanks to an early spring. Dozens of merchants and shops and eateries lined the streets to peddle and trade their wares and treats. Ezra wanted to get Cee a little something to commemorate the day. A small locket inscribed with the date and space for a photograph inside. He had planned to give it to her later that evening.

  
  


“I don't know where he is sweetie. He said he'd be right back,” Nora said trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

  
  


\--

  
  


It’s interesting all the little things that have to happen for a big pay off. In that same vein, it’s amazing how many big things have to occur for a small payout. The randomness of various little segments of life. Not just his life, but his brother's life, Nora's life, Cee's life, all intersecting at this point in time and in this place.

  
  


He never said the pay off was a good thing.

  
  


All that was left of Ezra's crawling party was Dig and Abazu. They had somehow managed to kidnap Ezra in the crowded bazaar. He let his guard down and now he was on a ship bound for the Green. They would make him lead them to the Queens Lair and then they would likely kill him. He had to figure out a way to get away before that happened.

  
  


He tried to persuade the unrelenting throb to subside. There were no allies. No peace keepers. No Cee to rescue him. He was well and truly on his own.

  
  


A Testin Screamer traveled considerably faster than a freighter; taking a week to get to their final destination. He worried and fretted over his girls. Wondered how they were and if they had figured out what had happened to him. He wondered if they thought he had abandoned them. He wondered if they forgot about him.

  
  


He breathed unevenly. _Oh my dear Nora. I am glad you are safe with Cee. I know you don’t want to go through this alone. I am sorry I will not be there to help you along._

  
  


\--

  
  


Nary an insect or bird was to be heard at that godless hour. He seemed to lumber rather than amble. His suit felt heavy. Dig tied Ezra's arm behind his back which then connected to the filter mechanism. If he ran away, he would be disconnected. He pointed them down a dark path with the promise of light at the end.

  
  


The site of the Queens Lair appeared as he recalled it before he and Cee fled. Several bodies still in their suits lay scattered about. He eyed the one that had been reclaimed by the planet's underbrush further off in the woodline. He felt the phantom pain in his chest. He felt the urge to touch his chest to remind himself that he was healed. He was denied that relief.

  
  


The only thing that looked different was the Lair itself. Some of it, he recalled, was destroyed by Cee to help facilitate their escape, but the rest. It was obvious that the site had been plundered. The organic material leftover from successful harvesting had decayed back into the planet's floor.

  
  


His second thought was more an afterthought. He quickly looked at the two men and hoped they hadn't realised the site was ransacked. Once they did it would be too late for him.

  
  


“So where is the aurelac, Ezra?” Dig pointed the thrower at him, “I don't want any of your fancy words, just point.”

  
  


Ezra felt his lip tremble as he twisted his body to point to the plundered site.

  
  


_I am defeated._

  
  
  
  


–

  
  


Too many variables to consider. Too much emotion. And right then, emotion was pouring off of Cee.

  
  


“He left us. He left me. I'm his daughter now and he left me," Cee continued to babble as she paced back and forth.

“He didn't leave us," Nora offered with little proof. She tried his communicator again. Static.

After waiting for over an hour at the little greasy spoon, Nora and Cee had searched the bazaar. Nora insisted that they stick together as she was afraid of losing her new charge.

She had stopped at the little wagon that Ezra found the locket to see if he picked it up. The man told her he had not and presented the newly inscribed necklace to Cee.

“I'm guessing this for you. He said it was for his daughter," the merchant said with a smile.

But Nora and Cee weren't smiling. Cee began to openly cry upon seeing the inscription. To our little bird. Love Nora and Ezra.

“Where is he?” She asked, "Do you think he would actually leave us? You said he left before. Did he leave again?"

Nora hugged her and then brushed her tears away. "Never," she said with a shake of her head. "He loves us. He wouldn't." She felt the tears well in her eyes. She held Cee's face and looked her straight in the eyes, "He wouldn't leave you. He owes you his life. He does. He owes you. He wouldn't leave you. Okay? He wouldn't."

“Then where is he?"

Nora tried the communicator again. Still static. This didn't feel like Ezra. He had been looking forward to this day. He allowed himself to get excited when Cee had. He took his cues from her. If she was mad, he was mad. If she was happy, he was happy. He adored her and sought her affection. He always loved to please the women in his life.

If he was not where he should have been, perhaps it was not his fault. There was no other place in the bazaar that he would visit, not with him knowing his girls were waiting. No scenario that she could imagine seemed to be logical. She could feel her heart pound in her chest. The illogical scenarios had begun to swim around her head. Was he wounded? Was he laying in a ditch somewhere? Did he leave them?

  
  


They spent several hours talking to anyone who may have seen Ezra. A merchant near the jeweler had video surveillance. He sat them in the corner with a data pad to see his footage. They didn't see Ezra. But Nora saw someone else that made her blood run cold.

  
  
  
  


–

  
  


Reality and pain blended together, unending chaos raked his brain. Abazu used his thrower like a cane and struck Ezra across his back, knocking him to the ground. He kept striking him as he curled up in a ball with no way to protect himself.

  
  


“You bastard! Where's the aurelac you fuck? You lied to us. I'm going to kill you!” Abazu screamed into the suit's microphone.

  
  


“Enough,” Dig yelled, but Abazu continued to strike Ezra, “I said, Enough!” Dig grabbed the thrower and threw it on the ground several meters away.

  
  


Dig pointed his pistol at Ezra's head, “Where is the aurelac, Ez?”

  
  


Ezra looked up at him in confusion, “How the hell am I supposed to know?”

  
  


Dig struck his helmet with the pistol. The precious protective glass cracked, but did not break. The backslide into pain was like a speeding train. He could see the car racing down on the tracks, but was powerless to slow the momentum enough to avoid impact.

  
  


Dig gestured around to the bodies around the site, “Well they certainly didn't take it,” He jammed the pistol against Ezra's helmet, “You were the last one to leave the planet, Ez. We heard tell that this,” gesturing again to the bodies, “was all you. Where did you stash the gems?”

  
  


Ezra eyed the cracked visor and sniffed. “I left without them. The freighter was leaving. Didn't have time to harvest. Too busy getting shot at and stabbed.”

  
  


Dig smacked the side of Ezra's helmet again. “I’m trying to separate the truth from the lies.”

  
  


“I spin you not. I know not where the aurelac is. Judging from the decaying rhizomatic matter, it was all harvested long ago. The line got shut down, but there are still crawling parties planet side. Someone found it. Took it. I, myself, left empty handed.”

  
  


Dig hit Ezra upside the head again.

  
  


“Stop,” Ezra gritted through his teeth in frustration..

  
  


“Damn it!!” Dig shouted.

  
  


He stepped aside to speak to Abazu. They changed the radio channel so he couldn't hear the conversation. But he did hear one thing that did give him pause. Nora.

  
  


“Hey! Hey! What did you say about my wife? Dig, what are you going to do?” Ezra struggled to get off the ground with his arm restrained.

  
  


Dig switched the channel on the radio. The static buzzed in Ezra's head.

  
  


“I said that since that sweet wife of yours is about to be a widow, that I get first dibs.”

  
  


“You touch her and I will end you,” Ezra stated pointedly, apparently the end of the conversation. “You want a prize, I'll give you a prize. We need to get back to the Pug.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


–

  
  
  
  


Puggart Bench required no special suit or filters for breathing, but it had its dangers all the same. The cabin sat on a small parcel of land bordering the Wild, so named for the abundance of indigenous wildlife that called the expanse untouched by the industrial centers of the Pug their home. The largest and most dangerous in the Wild was a giant creature called the Hewut. The size of a drop pod and weighing just as much. Black scaly skin with razor sharp claws and fangs. Bony protuberances ran along its spine to complete the nightmarish visage.

  
  


The cabin was little more than a shack. A bed, a sofa, a table with three chairs, a hand pump sink and large hearth fireplace. Ezra had outfit the space with plenty of books. He buried a cache of medical supplies, protein and chocolate bars and slurries, and weapons.

  
  


Ezra pleaded with Nora one night after a particularly bad nightmare to have an escape plan. Should they become separated like they had been on Kybalta. A place they can feel safe. If a war came, a plague, rogue comet, or an alien invasion. Whatever the danger, having a place off the grid was a fail-safe. Ezra had hoped he would never need to use it.

  
  


When the war came. It was literally brother against brother. Good versus evil. Heaven and hell. Black and white. There were no longer gray areas. The stone walls were a perfect defense against unwanted visitors. The occupants inside protected from the prying eyes of the world.

  
  


Ezra isn't sure why he led them there. He was trying to buy himself some time, he supposed. He was not prepared to part this mortal coil just yet. He needed an opportunity to escape, he supposed. He knew that he couldn't do that on the Green. He hoped they would fall for his ruse.

  
  


The room stood in complete stillness. There was nothing amiss. It was just as he left it. All but the ash in the fireplace and a single aurelac gem on the bed.

  
  


“Curiouser and curiouser,” Ezra exclaimed.

  
  


Dig picked up the gem and his eyes lit up like a child at solstice. “I knew it. I knew you were lying.”

  
  


Curiosity had gotten the better of him, “Well brother, you certainly are welcome to keep that gem, but I am not sure where it came from. I am - intrigued to say the least.”

  
  


“Where's the rest of the haul?” Abazu jabbed his throw into Ezra's bruised back.

  
  


“I'm afraid I am at a disadvantage. I did not leave the Green with any aurelac. How this one gem is here is a mystery.”

  
  


Dig hit Ezra upside the head again, knocking him to the floor and yelled, “Liar!”

  
  


Two shots rang out and Abazu dropped like a stone.

  
  


Dig reached for his pistol but Ezra tackled him to the ground. The pistol slid across the floor and landed at Nora's feet. She reached for Dig's fallen weapon while Ezra wrestled with him on the floor. Dig stopped fighting when Nora pointed both weapons at his head. Ezra relieved Nora of one of the pistols and kept its aim on target.

  
  


“Not that I am not grateful to see you, wife, but why are you here? Please tell me our little bird is safely at home?”

  
  


“Of course she is. I figured you needed help, ” she stated.

  
  


“While technically true, how did you know we'd come here?”

  
  


“We tried to find you in the bazaar, we saw some security footage. He,” Nora gestured with the pistol to Dig, “was in the footage. This was the failsafe. You look like shit by the way."

  
  


Ezra sniffed and worked his mouth to try to find a witty retort, but it died on his lips.

  
  


“You were always such a bitch,” Dig laughed out.

  
  


Ezra observed the scowl as it scrolled across Nora's face. Nora had worn a similar scowl on many occasions, but this one was different. There was no direction to the emotion that Nora wore clearly. Ezra had never noticed the emotion that was conveyed in Nora's eyes. Simple emotions that most people would wear on their sleeves were reflected in her eyes. Emotions that Nora seemed incapable of were evident now.

  
  


“Who's the bitch now?” Nora cocked the gun.

  
  


“I never expected death to be my career. But I think it wise if perhaps you allow me the task of -”

  
  


“No. This bastard bever stole you and beat you,” she screamed angrily.

  
  


Ezra stepped back and pulled Nora with him. She struggled against him. “Hey now. You need to stop. I appreciate the anger on my behalf, but wife, you are not a killer.”

  
  


“I am angry,” she commented after too many moments of silence. She looked to Ezra for reassurance, but he couldn't offer any.

  
  


“I know.”

  
  


“I killed him,” she gestured with the guy to Abazu on the floor, “but I'm not a killer.”

  
  


“No. You are not.”

  
  


Dig took the moment of their distraction to leap to his feet. The action prompted Ezra and Nora to fire their throwers but Dig charged Ezra and threw two quick punches in succession that knocked Ezra out.

  
  


“Ez!” Nora screamed.

  
  


“I already called dibs,” Dig said with a smarmy smirk.

  
  


Nora tried to fire her pistol again but it jammed. With every ounce of strength. Every fiber of her being. Every breath in her body, she fought against the larger man. She used the gun to try and hit him. He grabbed the weapon right from her hand and tossed it across the room. She tried to flee but he caught her and pinned her against the wall.

  
  


“You may have been a bitch but goodness gracious darling, you are hot. My brother is not deserving of a creature as fine as you,” Dig pinned her wrists with one hand and started to unbuckle his belt with the other.

  
  


Ezra felt as though his heart got caught in his throat and his pulse began to race. His head started bobbing up and down signaling a return to consciousness.

  
  


This feat of entropy started with his desire to make riches off the rare root pearls. The blurry vision of his wife pinned by his own brother made his stomach churn. One of the fallen pistols laid beside him and he reached for it. He tried to aim but his vision wouldn't clear and he was afraid to hit Nora.

  
  


“Dig!” Ezra yelled his voice raw.

  
  


He kept the pistol pointed in their direction and he clumsily came to stand on his own two feet. He steadied the pistol as best he could and took several steps toward them. “You have one chance Dig! Let her go.”

  
  


Dig released Nora only to grab her again to use as a shield.

  
  


“Damn it! I said let her go,” Ezra fired a shot. It whizzed past their heads and hit the door behind them.

  
  


Dig pushed Nora toward Ezra and ran out the door. Ezra grabbed Nora and inquired quickly, “Are you okay?” before going to pursue Dig out the door.

  
  


Ezra froze in the doorway. He'd only heard of Hewuts and never seen one before. But one stood just inside the treeline and was staring down his brother who stood frozen himself.

  
  


“Fuck,” Ezra mumbled. He quickly closed and locked the door. Not that it would have helped any. The beast was almost as large as the cabin itself.

  
  


“What's the matter? We can't let him go,” Nora said as she approached the door, “What the fuck is that?”

  
  


Ezra clamped his hand over her mouth as the creature turned to the cabin. The beast took a step out of the tree cover and Dig started to flee back to the cabin. The Hewut gave a brief chase and pawed him like he was a ragdoll. They watched as Dig tried to crawl away. The Hewut stepped on his back and Dig screamed in agony. Nora turned herself into Ezra's chest, she couldn't watch the carnage before them. Ezra watched as the Hewut bit down on Dig's torso and disconnected it from his lower half. He hugged Nora tighter.

  
  


Satisfied with its meal, the Hewut stalked back into the Wild.

  
  


–

  
  


“So you were the ones who plundered the Queens Lair?” Ezra queried.

  
  


“We hid the gems inside Damon's body,” Nora confirmed.

  
  


“That is-. That is disgusting.”

  
  


The road back to the Capitol City was long and arduous. Their transport wasn't made for off road utility.

  
  


She was no longer surprised by Ezra. She still considered him an enigma wrapped in a conundrum sauteed with mystery presented on a puzzle plate, but she was no longer surprised by his actions. No matter how unusual, offbeat, or poorly timed. No matter how well thought out, executed or received. He was working hard toward being a good man. Something rare along the fringe.

  
  


Ezra's mind raced with possibilities of the future. Last time he had these thoughts, he was unsure what path he could take to be a better provider for his family. A one armed man surely lacked the necessary skills to harvest again. He thought about running khatcids but that would require a ship and that meant being away from his girls. He thought about mining. The Pug had mining operations in the southern hemisphere.

  
  


“Do not mistake my curiosity with greed, but how much aurelac do you possess?” Ezra asked.

  
  


“I told you not to worry about making our ends meet anymore. They are met and there should be enough for Cee to provide for her family one day.”

  
  


Ezra's eyes widened.

  
  


“Fuck,” Ezra mumbled.

  
  


“So you can stay home and be a dad,” Nora offered.

  
  


“Our little bird is grown up, she doesn't exactly need me,” Ezra said solemnly.

  
  


“She may not require you to raise her up, but this one will,” Nora patted her abdomen.

  
  


Ezra paused to process the information. After what felt like an absurdly long period of silence Nora doubled up on her statement, “Ez, I'm pregnant.”

  
  


Ezra smiled.

  
  
  


\--

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
